Acts #14 - Overlooked

Acts 6:1-7 (NIV) Read by: Skip McDonald Who among your community of faith is the first to be overlooked, and how does your community tend to respond? The nature of any growing family is that as it expands and grows, things are going to have to adjust and shift in order to accommodate the changing needs of each member. This was the situation for the early church in today’s passage. Not only were they growing extremely fast, but the growth came with increasing complexity as Jews from across the diaspora (that is jews from the greek speaking world around Judea) came to follow Jesus and were included in this new family of God. These greek speaking Jews are called the “Hellenistic Jews” in this passage. And the widows in the Jewish world were normally cared for by their family, but in this new kind of family, the normal structures of care were not in place and they had to make adjustments. As you listen, notice how the leaders respond. They did not shift the center of focus from one thing to another, nor did they try to hold on to their control. Rather they expanded what the center included and made it a part of the whole, and they made space to share power and influence, trusting that with the Holy Spirit there is plenty of power to go around. ----------REFLECT---------- 1. What choices and decisions in this passage stood out to you? 2. When you think about a community you’re in, is there a group that is or tends to be overlooked? Maybe folks with a particular relationship or marital status, maybe it's folks from a certain gender or enthic group? What about people with disabilities or hold one economic status or another? Whoever it is, consider a first step in helping them not be overlooked. 3. How could you and your community act to expand the sense of what you see as the whole, and what would it take for your community to make space for more leadership trusting that in the Spirit there is plenty of power to go around? ----------GO DEEPER---------- Ministry During the Disruption Podcast Bible Project: Acts 1-12 Overview >> InterVarsity Press Selections: Acts >> ----------CONNECT---------- Find an InterVarsity Chapter >> Start an InterVarsity Chapter >> Learn More >>